Hold My Hand and Run

This story of emotional damage, suffering and renewal is set in an undetermined, past time, when Kezia and Beth, half-sisters and daughters of Canon Clare, endure relentless ill-treatment from their aunt.

The Canon, isolated in his grief for his two dead wives, is slow to respond to the girls’ terror and they leave, with only a half-formed plan of travelling to Collywell Cross, Kezia’s mother’s much loved refuge, to request sanctuary.

The journey reveals much of rural English life and more of betrayal, suffering and – eventually – solace at their journey’s end.

There are spiritual journeys for Kezia and her father: the reconciliation at the story’s end is all the more convincing for its fragility. Both face challenges – he in understanding his daughters and coming to terms with his grief; she in caring for her now bedridden aunt and assuming adult responsibilities in running the household.